MRI reveals Ward beat Froch with a broken left hand

Even as Andre Ward continually nailed Carl Froch with powerful shots from his left hand, it had been broken in two places for at least a week-and-a-half, according to an MRI taken by a physician in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, Calif.

“I’m glad I didn’t know my hand was fractured before the fight, I just feel it was better that way. I knew something was wrong, and I knew it hurt extremely bad, but I also knew we had no choice but to move forward with the fight,” said Ward, who fought Froch on Dec. 17 in Atlantic City, N.J.

“In hindsight, it’s a pretty extraordinary thing to have gone into, performed well, and finished the biggest fight of my career at less than 100 percent. As I told [Showtime color commentator] Jim Gray, I felt the victory was supernatural. Not because I put on a career best performance, but considering all things on the night and leading up to the fight. It was pretty amazing and for that, I thank God. So I guess it’s safe to say that on that night, we showed a little toughness.”

Ward announced that he was diagnosed with multiple fractures in the third and fifth metacarpal bones of his left hand.

“Andre Ward fought that fight with a double-fracture, and this was a fracture that he had received in training the week before,” Ward’s promoter, Dan Goossen, told RingTV.com on Thursday. “The doctor seemed to think that the injury was a about two weeks old.”

THE RING’s No. 1 rated super middleweight, the 27-year-old Ward (25-0, 13 knockouts) defeated the No. 2-rated, 34-year-old Froch (28-2, 20 KOs) to add Froch’s WBC belt to the WBA crown he already owned, also capturing THE RING’s vacant division title and the Showtime Super Six World Boxing Classic Championship Cup in what many are touting as a Fighter-of-The-Year-caliber unanimous decision victory.

“I am going to be honest. The hand injury was a scary situation. We hurt it on last Wednesday and we sparred on that Thursday in Atlantic City,” said Ward, during the post-fight press conference. “I hit one of my sparring partners on top of the head, and it was a good shot. We kept sparring a couple of more rounds and didn’t think much of it. I told my team that it feels wierd, almost like a fracture.”